Sunday, July 14, 2013

PNG extradition treaty forces political activists to flee

Danny Kogoya, the commander of the Free Papua
Movement's militant wing, is currently on the run, fearing re-arrest by
the PNG government. PNG correspondent Liam Cochrane meets him at a camp
on the PNG border, but finds his interview doesn't quite go to plan.

SIMON SANTOW: Last week, the ABC's stand-in PNG (Papua New
Guinea) correspondent Liam Cochrane made a trip to the far north-west of
Papua New Guinea to meet a rebel commander of the Free Papua Movement.Indonesia
keeps foreign media out of the disputed provinces of Papua and West
Papua, so the best way to get first hand information is either to sneak
in illegally or to try and meet activists as they take refuge across the
border.Liam took the legal option, and here is his report.LIAM
COCHRANE: The four-wheel-drive had been bouncing along a logging road
for about an hour when my contact, the go-between to the West Papua
rebel commander, turned to me in the back seat and said: "Leon" - which
is close enough - "Leon, I need to ask you one question."I thought, 'Ah, this is the point where he sounds me out about my politics and what I think of the West Papuan movement.'I readied myself for a diplomatic, neutral answer."Leon", he said, "Where can I buy guns?"I
had to laugh and explain I really wasn't the right person to help him
procure weapons. I explained I was an independent journalist and my
value to him was in getting the story in international media.That
story had two main elements - meet Danny Kogoya, a commander of the
Free Papua Movement's militant wing, and visit a base near the border
where I'd been told 200 armed men were taking refuge.The news
angle was an extradition treaty recently signed by Papua New Guinea and
Indonesia that PNG's opposition argued could be used to send back
activists and fighters like Danny Kogoya.Two weeks ago I'd never
heard of Danny Kogoya, but an article in the local paper told of his
arrest last September, during which he was shot in the leg. He was
jailed, released and then, he says, threatened with re-arrest. So he
fled across the border.The one thing missing from the story was
the fact that Danny Kogoya's shot-up leg had been amputated below the
knee - to be exact, the story said he was "nursing a deep cut and a
fractured leg", which I guess is technically correct.Mr Kogoya
was extremely happy to see a foreign journalist. He didn't speak English
and I didn't speak Indonesian, but he hugged for a long time when we
first met.And later he kept shaking my hand and smiling broadly as we sat in the back seat.In
the tray of the vehicle were six young men, unarmed but acting as out
security as we made our way to the border. At most stops, Danny and I
had to stay inside the car behind the tinted windows to avoid attracting
attention.At one roadside market however, I was allowed out and the go-between sliced open a coconut - a welcome drink in the hot sun.Most
of the men bought bunches of betel nut, the mild stimulant that stains
teeth dark red and they chewed and spat the red liquid out for the rest
of the journey.(Engine noise)When we finally got to Camp
Victoria, a few kilometres inside Papua New Guinea's border with
Indonesia, the place was empty and the grass was knee high.It was
only then explained to me that the 200 fighters said to be under
Danny's command had been sent out on long patrols across Indonesia's
Papua province. They were said to be fanning out to help with the annual
July 1 ceremonies that mark the anniversary of a declaration of
independence that has not become a reality on the ground.On this
day, July 1, it's common for activists to raise the Morning Star flag,
the symbol of the West Papuan independence movement that is banned in
Indonesia. In the past, flag-raising ceremonies have attracted brutal
retribution from Indonesian authorities.But at Camp Victoria there was no flag, no guns, and no fighters.This was quite a let-down.For
years, people have questioned just how strong the Free Papua Movement's
military wing really is and this trip was supposed to be a chance to
meet rebel fighters without breaking the law and sneaking across the
border.But I still had Danny Kogoya, the one-legged commander, and so I got busy setting up for an interview.(Danny Kogoya speaking in foreign language)DANNY KOGOYA(translated): I want Jacob Prai and those in Swedish...LIAM COCHRANE: It was hard going.Many
of my questions were probing the level of support for Danny's cause and
trying to get a sense of whether there was any change in strategy,
considering the lack of tangible results in previous decades.It was perhaps not the kind of advocacy journalism Danny was used.Many
of Danny's answers were variations of, "I want independence for West
Papua", or things like "we need to come together and join hands for the
freedom of West Papua".And I had a growing feeling that my
translator, a supporter of the West Papua movement, was embellishing
Danny's answers and giving me what he thought I wanted to hear.Towards
the end of the interview, one of his translations went for about four
times as long as Danny's response and involved a grisly accusation of
cannibalism that didn't seem to have much to do with the question I'd
asked.Light was fading and we wrapped it up, heading to a local
village for a communal meal of rice and instant noodles before heading
to bed with promises of a military ceremony at 6am sharp.Throughout
the night, the village drunkards had a party in full swing, and music
blared until dawn. Nobody told them to be quiet; nobody wanted to be on
the wrong side of a drunk man's bush knife.By morning, the
overgrown Camp Victoria had been given a makeover thanks to three
commandeered machetes and there was a flag pole in the centre of the
clearing flying the Morning Star flag.Perhaps not surprisingly
for this part of the world, the 6am show of arms was a little ambitious.
The main problem seemed to be convincing people to display their hidden
guns in front of the camera, because carrying weapons in public is
illegal in PNG.After five hours of delays, the ceremony started.(People talking)The
bush camp filled with more than a hundred people and around 30 men,
women and children lined up dressed in a colourful assortment of
ceremonial dresses.There were grass skirts and white face paint
on some of the women; some men had headdresses fashioned from bright
green leaves and several had long necklaces made of shells and bone.Six men had homemade rifles.(Commander issuing parade orders)Someone suggested the men fire off a round for the benefit of the cameras, but it turned out nobody had any bullets.I whispered to the go-between, "How are you going to fight the Indonesians without any bullets?"He
just smiled but another man who spoke some English volunteered to get
in front to the camera and explain their lack of ammo was exactly why
the world should pitch in and send them military equipment.Time was well and truly up. I was running late for my security check-in with the ABC to confirm all was well.In
fact, none of the security issues that I'd envisaged had been a
problem. The only slight moment of concern was when the security guys in
the tray of the car started arguing on the trip back. It had something
to do with who had chipped in money to buy beer and who was chosen to
sit in the back seat, inside the car, once we dropped Danny Kogoya off
at his safe house.(Engine noise)The trip ended well and the story was on TV and radio a few days later.SIMON SANTOW: Liam Cochrane reporting there.

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